The field encompassing the theory and practice of fault-tolerant, redundant and highly-available systems has been an active area of study for the past several decades. While most of the research in this arena is focused on computer systems, the principles of practice apply to other fields with multiple, identical agents capable of replacing agents that have failed or have become degraded or otherwise impaired. There are numerous general background teachings about highly-available fault-tolerant systems. For a cross-section of these, the reader is referred to the following select references: Floyd Piedad and Michael W. Hawkins, “High Availability: Design, Techniques, and Processes”, Prentice Hall. Dec. 28, 2000, ISBN 9780130962881; Evan Marcus and Hal Stern, “Blueprints for High Availability: Designing Resilient Distributed Systems”, John Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-43026-9; IBM Global Services, “Improving systems availability”, IBM Global Services, 1998; Dhiraj K. Pradhan, “Fault-Tolerant Computer System Design”, Feb. 14, 1996, ISBN 0130578878; Jan Vytopil, “Formal Techniques in Real-Time and Fault-Tolerant Systems” Second International Symposium, Nijmegen, Netherlands, Jan. 8-10, 1992, Published by Springer, 1991, ISBN-10 3-540-55092-5; and finally to the teachines provided by Mohammad Neilforoshan, “Fault tolerant computing in computer design”, M.R Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges archive, Vol. 18, Issue 4, April 2003, pgs. 213-220, ISSN: 1937-477.
The field of robotics has also been an active area of research and development for many decades. Here, the use of multiple robots, especially autonomous robots, to achieve a common goal or objective is a widely recognized field of interest. To gain a basic understanding and appreciation of the issues encountered in the field of multi-agent robotics the reader is directed to additional prior art references. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,701 teaches an autonomous multi-platform robot system for performing at least one functional task in an environment. Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 8,483,930 teaches operations of a robot among a plurality of robots, where the robot is capable of avoiding mutual interference of a plurality of active sensors mounted on the other robots. This is done so that a task can be smoothly executed by each robot belonging to the plurality of robots. Furthermore, the reader will find an excellent overview of the entire field in the following prior art references: Tim Lueth et al., “Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 3”, Dec. 10, 2011, Springer, ISBN-10: 3642722008 (ISBN-13: 978-3642722004); Jacak W. and Proell K., “Multiagent Architecture for Intelligent Autonomous Systems”, Logistics and Industrial Informatics, 2nd International Conference, Sept. 10-12, 2009, Linz, Austria, E-ISBN: 978-1-4244-3958-4, Print ISBN: 978-1-4244-3958-4.
Similarly, the field of solar tracking techniques and calibration devices has also been an active area of research and development for many years. For an understanding of this field, the reader is again referred to a number of useful prior art references. U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. 2011/0240007 to Currier teaches a system and method for providing real time control of a heliostat array or CPV/PV module that reduces actuation cost. This teaching shows how to reduce the fixed cost of calibrating and repositioning an individual solar surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,142 teaches a solar self-tracking mechanism for continuously tracking the movement of the sun with time. The mechanism has a solar radiant energy receiver secured to a base set on the ground and rotatable about a rotating shaft that extends horizontally in an east-west direction. It also has a plurality of compound parabolic concentrators secured to both longitudinal edges of the solar receiving mechanism in parallel to the rotating shaft.
Dual axis tracking of the sun is more directly addressed in U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. 2010/0043866. This reference teaches a solar tracker for photovoltaic panels having a system for orienting same along two perpendicular axes. The tracker has a supporting platform provided with motorized wheels and at least two solar panel holders. U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. 2013/0098425 also teaches a dual axis solar tracker apparatus and method using an azimuth actuator to adjust the azimuth of an attached solar panel and an elevation actuator to adjust the elevation of a panel seat holding the solar panel to track the azimuth and elevation of the sun as it moves through the sky. Still additional teachings are found in the following prior art references: David Cooke, “Single vs. Dual Axis Solar Tracking”, Alternate Energy eMagazine, April 2011; William David Lubitz, “Effect of Manual Tilt Adjustments on Incident Irradiance on Fixed and Tracking Solar Panels”, Applied Energy, Vol. 88 (2011), pp. 1710-1719.
Despite the extensive teachings available in each of the above areas of study, the prior art does not provide for an effective combination of the above three fields to address the needs encountered in managing solar tracking systems. More precisely, many challenges remain in devising a highly-available solar tracking system that could utilize multiple robots in an advantageous manner.